The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-01-01
HOW sCULPToRs WORK.
Description of the Best-Known and Most
Popular System of tue-Making.

Description of the Best-Known and Most
Popular System of Statue BIaking.
Several great sculptors, Michael An
gelo among them, have occasionally
hewn their statues straight out of the
block of marble, without going through
the preliminary courses of modelling in
clay and castingin plaster. But this is
rarely done, for, in the first place, the
work would be too long for any artist
who has regard for his time, and in
the second, the hewlng of the marble
demands a special practical experience
which makes it an art apart. A sculp-
tor would probably spoil hundred
blocks of marble before making as
much as a statuette a foot high, were
he to trust only to himself in the mat
ter. Even Michael Angelo, when he
tried to dispense with the "Statuary, :"
or practitioner, succeeded only in
making fragments of figures. Not be-
ing an adept in Judging of the size of
the block he needed, he was con
stantly finding that he had miscal-
culated, and that an arm, leg, or
head must remain unfinished in
consequence. The "statuary,' who is
often an artist of great merit, and pos
sessed of as much talent in his way as
the sculptor in his, sets the plaster
model on platform, measures it, and
places it side by side with block of
marble of the requisite height and
breadth. This done, he applies to the
mo3el an instrument of mathematical
precision, by which he obtains the de-
tailed measure of every part and angle
of the statue. He then returns to the
marble, and roughly sketches on the
outside of it. by means of points, a sort
of outline OF the figure or group. Upon
each of the spots where he has marked
point with his pencil, workman
bores hole with an awl, taking great
care, however, not to bore fraction
of an inch deeper than he is told.
When the ''statuary' has inspected all
the sides of the block, and when the
holes have all been bored according to
his directions the marble looks as
though it had been riddled by bullets.
A second workman then appears with
a chisel and hammer to hew away the
fragments of marble between the diff
ferent holes and along the pencil lines
drawn as guide marks. This work is
more or less easy as the attitude of the
statue is simple and fanciful. If the
figure be one of a modern parsonage
standing placidly with his arms by his
sides, attired in the clothes of our day
and with nothing eccentric in the p0-
sition Of his legs, the task offers no diff
ficulties and may be entrusted to very
ordinary workman. But if the subject
be group or figure in an attitude,
for instance like that of Ajax Defying
the Lightning, the chisel can not be en-
trusted to any but practiced hand,
and every blow of the hammer must be
struck with the greatest precaution.
The appearance presented by the mar
BILE when the preparatory hewing
has ended, is that of some
person or persons thickly wrapped
up in q shroud. The outlines of
head and body can be vaguely de-
tected under the white covering, but
nothing more. And it is not until the
''statuary" himself has set to work
with his finer chisel and more delicate
hand, that tangible form begins to
emerge from the hard mass. First the
head, then the shoulders and trunk.
then the legs, and then the arms and
hands appear. The arms and hands.
if outstretched, are reserved to the
l. J,H !,
the oscillations caused by the chisel in
hewing the other parts of the marble
might shake and crack them. This is
very necessary precaution, and it is
even usual to keep the arms, the fingers
and other projecting parts of marble
statues continually supported by props
of wood, until the moment when the
work is set upon its pedestal and I'M
covered.
When the statue is handed over to
the sculptor so that he may give the
final touches to it, there sometimes re-
mains scarcely any thing for him to do.
This is the case when the ''statuary' is
himself a first-class artist and can trust
himself to initiate to a nicely the
slightest details of form and expression
in the plaster model. But such exam
pies are rare, less because of the inca
pacity of the "statuaries" than by
reason of the natural desire which
every artist has to terminate in person
the work he has conceived and begun.
The statue is usually returned to the
sculptor in half finished state, the fine
touches, which will constitute the
special beauty of the work, yet remain
ing to be done. The most delicate OF
tools are then employed; slender chisels
with the finest points; toy hammers OF
scarcely any weight, little graters that
fit on, something ike thimbles, to the
top of the forefnger. And to polish
the marble ard smooth it, chamois
leather, sand-paper, sponges stepped in
oil and the palm of the hand are used.
When the work presents nude figure,
the amount of care needed for the cor
rect modelling of the limbs and muscles
is inconceivable. Works like the Lao
coon, the Dying Gladiator and the
Apollo Belvedere must have cost the
makers more trouble and anxiety than
any sum of money could repay. ~ T.
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